From 'Fic Surfing' :
"But I'm a half breed too." He pointed out. "Really, Okasan. A Kitsune and a Tengu breeding? What were you two thinking?!"

"How were we supposed to know you'd turn out to be a Shinigami?"

Tomorrow.
By Icka! M. Chif.

She should have died hereafter;
There would have been a time for such a word.
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
~Macbeth, Macbeth V.V.19


You know what the worst part about being a Shinigami is?

Knowing when you or the ones around you will die.

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow... As a human, everything rests on tomorrow. The grey unknown.

The future is unknown to me for the most part as well. But there are certain things I do know, that only a Kami of Death is familiar with.

When someone's life thread is about to be cut is one of them. Deaths, especially tragic ones, shine like a beacon to me. Proximity helps me to see those as well. That's why I'm always first at the scene when someone dies, to make the passing of their spirit from their body a little easier. I'm not always looking for clues. It's who I am, what I do. The energy I gain from doing so helps too.

Proximity also allows me to see when a close one will die.

To attempt to change that is to bring down disaster beyond comprehension. Everything must die, it's part of the cycle that keeps everything in balance. Even I am not so foolish to think that I can out smart that.

What is that one gaijin phrase? Ah, yes. 'Eat, Drink and screw like crazed rabid weasels, for tomorrow we may die'. Ran would wash my mouth out with soap if she ever heard me use that one.

But tomorrow I die.

Or Ran does.

I'm not quite sure right now, sometimes it's hard to tell when her threads stop and mine begin, but one of us will die tomorrow. All things considered I would prefer if I were the one to die.

And it's not like I'll actually -die- die. It would take a lot more to kill me than it would most humans or youkai. It'll just mean another new beginning, like with this mix up with APTX-4896. And another trip to the JuOhCho. They do get so annoyed when they find out it's me again.

It might be fun to join them in the Shoka Division for a while, Tatsumi keeps offering me a job there, even if I'm a true youko instead of a un-dead ningen. Personally, I think it's because it would be cheaper for his department if they had a detective in house instead of having to occasionally borrow one from a different department. Though I don't know if I could actually handle killing ningen, even if it is past time for them to leave this realm.

And if Watari has finally figured out his sex-exchange potion, maybe I can stay in Tokyo, to keep an eye on Ran without her knowing it.

Ran.

Otousan and Okasan think that I spend too much time in the company of ningen, that I should stick with 'our kind'. And I suppose it is true, that I spend most of my time with the ningen. But then it's rather difficult to make friends when everyone knows that you can kill them just by sneezing wrong.

Of course, Otousan and Okasan also the ones who left me to fend for myself as a kit so that they could go off and play with the ningen.

And thanks to several ningen, most prominently Ran and Agasa, I've done alright. Being stuck looking my true age not included..

But tomorrow...

I don't want to say goodbye again. It was bad enough that I lost the ability to stay in my older form, but to loose both the scraps of my Shin'ichi life as well as my Conan life this soon hurts. The possibility always existed, but I had thought not for many more years.

Loosing Ran is not a price I'm willing to pay for this life however.

So when I wake up tomorrow, I shall put on my glasses, smile and act like the 'Conan-kun' everyone knows.

And then, if I'm reading everything correctly, on our way home from school tomorrow afternoon I will die. Those around me will grieve, then move on with their lives, as it should be. And I will start over. Again.

Tomorrow followed by tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow...

Fin.

"Of all the wonders that I yet have heard,
It seems to me most strange that men should fear,
Seeing that death, a necessary end,
Will come when it will come.
~Caesar, Julius Caesar, II.II.34

Notes:

Ningen: Human
Youkai/Youko: Deamon
Gaijin: Foreign, out side of Japan.

Yes, the JuOhCho, Tatsumi and Watari are all references to Yami no Matsuei. Couldn't help it! #^^#

'Eat, Drink and screw like crazed rabid weasels, for tomorrow we may die' -that's the way I've heard it, anyway.
You may be more familiar with 'Eat, Drink and Be Merry, for tomorrow we may die' though.

I have no clue what the heck the Shakespeare quotes are doing here tho... they just kinda fell in. ^^;;

Side note: I will post 'Yesterday', tomorrow.